Did Snape kill DD? WAS: Re: PoA - Snape knew?

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 143605

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...> 
wrote:

<SNIP>

If, however, Snape goes OoC to apologize to Harry for
> "abusing" him, I'll believe that JKR has lost all artistic integrity
> and knuckled under to the wishes of the PC contingent. But that will,
> of course, be only my opinion.)

Would she be knuckling under?  I don't know.  Was she knuckling under 
when she included DD's speech at the Dursleys early in HBP (that is, 
the speech where he largely repealed the speech he had previously made 
at the end of OOTP)?  Was she knuckling under when she used the scar 
on Harry's hand as a major "prop" despite much opining in the fandom 
that we would never hear anything else about Umbridge or the scar?  Is 
that why she ran away from the tone of OOTP like a bloodhound who 
smells bear on the wind?  Or is it just that JKR, bless her heart, 
lets things get away from her sometimes and she's faced with a "didn't 
mean to say that, ought to have done this, should have taken care of 
that" situation where she is forced to play "catch-up" on a lot of 
issues?  Perhaps this is why HBP so strongly resembled a lot of 
fanfic, because fanfic does have the advantage of lancing the boils 
the author unwittingly raises on the buttocks of the story.  

JKR seems to be a prime victim of the Rule of Three: what I hear 
myself say, what I actually say, and what they hear me say are very 
different things and often not very close to one another.  We saw that 
when she got blindsided about shipping, about which she felt she had 
been pretty clear in books and interviews.  I think she had been 
pretty clear, too, frankly.  I think she's also been very clear that 
Snape is a horrible person -- a horrible person with secrets and a 
part to play, but still a horrible person -- and she genuinely doesn't 
understand why anyone would like the man.  Given that she seems to 
favor karmic comeuppances, and she doesn't seem to believe in "cheap" 
grace, I'd say a horrible man that nobody should like probably has a 
lot of reparation to face before achieving redemption.



> 
> Carol, expecting that she and Lupinlore will be equally surprised by
> JKR's revelations about Snape in Book 7 and certain that at least one
> of us will be severely disappointed in the outcome of the Snape arc
>

Actually, I don't know if very many people across the spectrum are 
going to be terribly surprised or severely disappointed.  I expect the 
last book will be a "by-the-numbers" exercise much like HBP.  Harry 
kills Voldy: Check.  Hermione and Ron: Check.  Horcruxes: Check.  
Finish with the Dursleys: Check.  Appearance from Umbridge: Check.  
Polish off Percy: Check.  Comeuppance for Snape:  Check.  Redemption: 
Check.  Green-eyed, red-haired babies: Check.  Something for 
everybody: Check.   I would not be at all surprised if, like HBP, it 
turns out to be a book that does not severely disappoint very many 
people, but doesn't greatly please very many, either.


Lupinlore